We pick up a hire car in downtown Manhattan and drive out of the city north to Walkill, crossing the George Washington Bridge.  We arrive early in the beautiful Walkill area, so we stop for a coffee in a  quaint little town called Pine Bush.  We have to wait for everything to open at 10 am.! Very civilized!

Our dear brother Les has invited us for lunch and meets us in the lobby. Its so nice to reacquaint ourselves with this wonderful young brother from the dining room staff, who has been in Walkill for 5 years. He takes us to a table marked ‘guests’ and he has invited others from his congregation to join us.  Lunch was Korean b-b-q, a favourite with all the young ones (there are many) and it was delicious.  With so many nationalities in Bethel they try to cater for all tastes. We had a long tour in the afternoon, from 1-4.  The grounds of Walkill are magnificent and with central lake and bridge. Les finishes his shift in the kitchen at 4.10 and he offers us a rare privilege, a walk through the “Launching Pad”, the burial site of many faithful bethelites, Brother Knorr, Franz, Lloyd Barry and many others. You need a key to enter boom gates so without Les it would not have been possible.

We then drive to Patterson where we have booked into the Patterson Inn, a beautiful hotel run by the brothers and within the grounds of Bethel, for two nights.